slough
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also Slough
Contents |
English[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle English, akin to Middle High German slûch (“slough”) (whence German Schlauch (“tube, hose”)).
Alternative forms[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
slough (plural sloughs)
- The skin shed by a snake or other reptile.
- That is the slough of a rattler; we must be careful.
- Dead skin on a sore or ulcer.
- This is the slough that came off of his skin after the burn.
Translations[edit]
the skin shed by a snake or other reptile
dead skin on a sore or ulcer
Verb[edit]
slough (third-person singular simple present sloughs, present participle sloughing, simple past and past participle sloughed)
- (transitive) To shed (skin).
- This skin is being sloughed.
- (intransitive) To slide off (like a layer of skin).
- A week after he was burned, a layer of skin on his arm sloughed off.
- 2013, Casey Watson, Mummy’s Little Helper: The heartrending true story of a young girl:
- The mud sloughed off her palms easily […]
- (transitive, card games) To discard.
- East sloughed a heart.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
to shed (skin)
Etymology 2[edit]
From Old English slōh, probably from Proto-Germanic *slōhaz.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Australia, British):
- (General American): enPR: slou, IPA: /slaʊ/, X-SAMPA: /slaU/ or enPR: slo͞o, IPA: /sluː/, X-SAMPA: /slu:/
Noun[edit]
Wikipedia slough (plural sloughs)
- (UK) A muddy or marshy area.
- 1883 "That comed - as you call it - of being arrant asses," retorted the doctor, "and not having sense enough to know honest air from poison, and the dry land from a vile, pestiferous slough. — Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
- (Eastern United States) A type of swamp or shallow lake system, typically formed as or by the backwater of a larger waterway, similar to a bayou with trees.
- We paddled under a canopy of trees through the slough.
- (Western United States) A secondary channel of a river delta, usually flushed by the tide.
- The Sacramento River Delta contains dozens of sloughs that are often used for water-skiing and fishing.
- A state of depression.
- John is in a slough.
- (Canadian Prairies) A small pond, often alkaine, many but not all are formed by glacial potholes.
- Potholes or sloughs formed by a glacier’s retreat from the central plains of North America, are now known to be some of the world’s most productive ecosystems.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
muddy or marshy area
type of swamp or shallow lake system
